Yale Makes History At Henley Royal Regatta

Jul 04, 2009

HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England - Yale's lightweight coxed four made
history at the Henley Royal Regatta on Saturday. The Bulldogs
became the first foreign boat to reach the final in the Prince
Albert Challenge Cup. Yale defeated Reading University A by a
length, finishing with a time of 7 minutes, 15 seconds.

In the boat for the Bulldogs were coxswain Ian Schmertzler,
Brendan McCook, Andrew Kaiser, Philip Lang and Daniel Ensslen.

Yale rowed from behind to overtake a Reading crew that
outweighed them by about two stone (or 28 pounds) a man. Reading
was ahead at both the Barrier and Fawley, but a strong push in the
second half of the course put Yale's bow ahead and into the final.
Reading had the lead for most of the race, leading at the 1/4 mile
signal, the Barrier, and at Fawley. At most, Reading had a 3/4 to 1
length lead, but Yale used a number of pushes in the second half of
the race to break down Reading's early advantage. The crowd was
really behind the local lads from Reading as they came into the
Enclosure, but by then Yale had taken a canvas lead and went on to
push it out to a 1 length lead for the win.

The Bulldogs reached the semifinal by defeating Durham
University 'A' on Wednesday and Imperial College London on Friday